During My Youth, The Idea Of Moving

During My Youth, The Idea Of Moving From Lebanon Was Unthinkable. Then I Began To Realise I Might Have To Go, Like My Grandfather, Uncles And Others Who Left For America, Egypt, Australia, Cuba.

In My Prayers, I Want To Say: Lord, Don’t Be Far From Me, And Also Don’t Come Too Close. Let Me Contemplate The Stars On The Texture Of Your Cloth, But Don’t Unveil Your Face To Me. Allow Me To Hear The Rivers That You Send Running, But Lord! Lord! Don’t Allow Me Hearing Your Voice

I Am The Son Of The Road , My Country Is A Caravan And My Life Is The Most Unexpected Of Voyages. I Belong To Earth And To The God And It Is To Them That I Will One Day Soon Return

Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Lump The Most Different People Together Under The Same Heading. Taking The Line Of Least Resistance, We Ascribe To Them Collective Crimes, Collective Acts And Opinions. "the Serbs Have Massacred…", "the English Have Devastated…", "the Jews Have Confiscated…", "the Blacks Have Torched", "the Arabs Refuse…". We Blithely Express Sweeping Judgments On Whole Peoples, Calling Them "hardworking" And "ingenious", Or "lazy", "touchy", "sly", "proud", Or "obstinate". And Sometimes This Ends In Bloodshed." – Amin Maalouf "on Identity

Isn't It A Characteristic Of The Age We Live In That It Has Made Everyone In A Way A Migrant And A Member Of A Minority?